The New Love Chapter

With my sincere apologies to the apostle Paul, I have come up with the 21st century antithesis of 1st
Corinthians 13, the great "love chapter" of the Bible. Just to clarify: God's Word has never changed, and never will. My purpose here is to present a wake-up call to us all. Love takes hard work, sacrifice and prayer, along with some serious blood, sweat and tears. It was never meant to be a cake-walk. And it was certainly never meant to be "all about me." Jesus said to love others first, not self. Read on if you dare... and if you feel a conviction in your heart, please take time to crack open a Bible afterward and read what God really has to say.

Then live it. 

The New Love Chapter

Love is selfish, love is me-first. It wants what others have, it constantly speaks only of itself, never considering the thoughts, welfare, or feelings of others. It shows no compassion for others and doesn't share a thing, but rather puts all the focus on itself. Love gets angry easily and posts all its frustrations on Facebook and Twitter. It keeps a running tally of supposed injuries to its pride and vanity. It applauds when it gets revenge, and doesn't let the truth get in the way of a good bout with self-pity. It never protects or trusts anybody, sees the glass as constantly half-empty and gives up at the first chance it gets. 

Love talks about itself and its family as a failure, because that's how it draws attention to itself. But when God wants to speak, it shuts Him out. Where He wants to give vision, love closes its eyes. When God wants to help, love says "I can do this on my own." Love thinks that it knows it all, but truth will one day present a different reality. For now, love is on a mission to prove that it alone is right, and everyone is out to get it. The compassionate correction, opinions or requests of others are dismissed in the twinkling of an eye. But one day, love will learn how wrong it has been. By then, it will be too late. Love will lose all it could have had simply by opening its cold heart to truth. 

Now only two remain: Faith and hope. And love has given up on both. 

-Tim LaVere

Of Waffles, Drills, and IPads

I'm hurting. Badly. Since early December, I've been battling a painfully sore hip that's being caused by either a muscular condition or degenerative arthritis, depending on which health care professional is to be believed. At any rate, the pain seems to spread just about anywhere it darn well pleases, leaving me irritable, frustrated, and at certain times incredibly angry.

Yet it's been good for me. The apostle Paul wrote that he delighted in his weaknesses, because when he was weak, then he was strong in the Lord. I'm beginning to understand on a much smaller scale what Paul meant. Suffering through the sort of pain that limits my ability to lift anything heavier than a jug of milk is not only humbling, it has opened the door for God to show Himself perfect and mighty in my life. Let me explain.

This affliction has drawn me to my knees. As strange as this will undoubtedly sound to my skeptic friends and relative(s), the pain has been an answer to my prayers. I began to feel last year as if I had lost my "edge" in my personal relationship with God. I was doing the work of the ministry, but not growing at all in my walk with Jesus. I felt stagnant, alone, and depressed by the depravity of the world around me in these last days. Not willing to give up, I asked God to do whatever it takes to get my attention. Well, He got it. I have no choice but to seek God more earnestly in prayer. And as I have returned to my first love, as I have delighted in the Lord, other things have begun to fall into place.

He has humbled me through my finances. Pam and I each had to replace our cars early this year. The only way to do it was for each of us to "give up" our own weekly spending money. I'm lucky to have a quarter in my pocket. But God has used it to teach me how fortunate I am. I have more empathy for those who have nothing at all. It has prompted me to pray and work harder to reach the lost people of our community. And it's working.

But here's the really good stuff. The delightful stuff. Psalms 37:4 says, "Take delight in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart." Are you ready for this? In the last month, people have been blessing my socks off out of the blue! A friend surprised me with a brand new restaurant-quality Belgian waffle maker, along with blueberries and waffle mix. Another friend bought me a brand new high-quality drill. Yet another couple knocked on my door and handed me a brand new IPad with a $25 ITunes gift card. I certainly didn't ask for any of those things, or even hint around that I wanted them. Yet each of them was a "desire" of my heart. That's over a thousand dollars worth of stuff just handed to me for no other reason than the fact that God put it on someone's heart. I didn't even think to ask God for any of those things. I was too busy seeking His face.

Now. Can healing be far away? I daresay I'm willing to wait on God.